Suttons Bay takes Hurons in volleyball regional

The Huron hot streak came to an end at the hands of Suttons Bay at Saturday?s regional semifinal volleyball match in Gaylord. After winning the Straits Area Conference title one week and the Charlevoix district title the next, coach Mary Fairbanks? team had their sights set on advancing on to the state Class C quarterfinals. A strong Suttons Bay squad (54-12-2) put up a roadblock on the Hurons track, ending the Hurons? season with a 3-1 loss (10-25, 16-25, 25-12, 23-25). Rogers City fell behind right away in the first game, down 8-2. A kill from senior left-hitter Simone Kapala followed by an ace from junior Moni Cercone made it 8-4. Another Kapala kill and an error by Suttons Bay drew the score to 11-9. Then things unraveled for the Hurons as Suttons Bay went on a 14-1 run to end game one with a 25-10 win. Game two was tied nine times before Suttons Bay went on a 15-6 run to get a 25-16 win.

BUT THE Hurons showed resolve and turned the tide completely around to win game three, 25-12. ?I don?t think we made a change. There were a lot of nerves in the first two games and they have a lot of big girls that can hit the ball hard,? said Fairbanks. The power-hitting duo of Kelsey Wick and Maggie Walters had their game on track in the first two games, and a sweep in the best-of-five match seemed coming. Walters had 47 kills on the day, to set a new school single-season kills record with 636, eclipsing the previous mark set by Holly Orban’s (daughter of former Presque Isle County residents Jim and Terri Orban) 621 last year. Walters had 47 kills and seven blocks on Saturday.

?I don?t think we got on offense enough in the first two games to give us a chance. We were too concerned with trying to defend what they were bringing at us, which puts us in a position that you are just trying to get the ball over the net. We gave them a lot of free balls and there were a couple of service errors at key points and that hurt us,? coach Fairbanks said. Behind the serving of junior setter Elly Plath, the Hurons got the first two points. Things really got rolling with junior Jenny Fleming serving. By the time she finished her stint behind the line, the Hurons led 14-1. Rogers City scored in a variety of ways in the rally, from aces to kills from Cercone and Dana Fairbanks.

The players were pumped with energy as they confidently held off a charge that drew the score to 18-10. Great digs were made by Lauren Hanson and Kaitlin Klingshirn in the rally. With Kapala serving, Fleming delivered a pair of kills to make the score 23-10.

NOW DOWN 2-1 in games, the Hurons looked to knot up the series with a win in game four. In the early going, it looked like a win was possible. Three straight kills by Dana Fairbanks on short Suttons Bay returns were part of a seven-point rally to give the Hurons an 11-7 lead. Rogers City led 16-12, then 18-14 after another Kapala kill. Suttons Bay came back to tie the score at 19-19, forcing Fairbanks to call a time out. The score was tied at 20-20 before Suttons Bay took a 24-22 edge, one point away from winning the match. Rogers City staved off elimination to win a point on a long rally, but lost the next one to lose game four, 25-23.

SUTTONS BAY defeated Kingsley in the regional finals to earn a shot at Iron Mountain (30-1) at the Kalkaska quarterfinal game played Tuesday. Although a slow start hurt Rogers City?s chances, the team showed their stuff in the convincing game three win. ?We knew going in that Suttons Bay was going to try to change things up. We just had to come in and try to play our game. I think they got a little rattled. In a match like this you can?t have a couple of service errors in a row,? Fairbanks said. Dana Fairbanks had eight kills and eight digs wh

ile Kapala had seven kills, 10 digs, three blocks, and two ace serves. Fleming had six kills, four aces and 10 digs while Cercone added six kills, six digs, and two aces. Plath had 20 set assists, nine digs, and two aces.

THE HURONS ended the season with a 34-21-3 record (98-54-7 in Fairbanks? three years as coach), taking on tough competition from all classes in several tournaments, while winning the Straits Area Conference title and a district championship. ?I?m so proud of these girls the way they can recover and come back. We were just happy to be here,? she said. ?We finished up our season really strong.?

Two seniors will be lost to graduation, Simone Kapala, a three-year starter, and Dana Fairbanks, a four-year starter, but a core of talented juniors will form a strong nucleus to build on. Juniors on the squad include Elly Plath, Mailee Xiong, Lauren Hanson, Ashley Basel, Monica Cercone, Kaitlin Klingshirn, Jenny Fleming, and Cynthia Belusar. Anna Wickersham, a sophomore, was called up from coach Chris Shay?s junior varsity late in the season. Fairbanks said the players appreciated the fan support all season long and especially at the tournaments the past few weeks.

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